IPU CALLS FOR END TO HOSTILITIES AND RESUMPTION OF SERIOUS PEACE TALKS IN MIDDLE EAST

Deeply concerned by the escalation of violence in the Middle East, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has today called for an immediate end to the hostilities in the region and for serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to resume immediately.

“Decades of conflict between the two sides have not resolved anything and caused countless deaths and misery. Peace is the only way forward and to achieve that, all sides representing their respective populations have to sit down and talk to each other,” says IPU President Abdelwahad Radi. “The peace process, which has for too long been in a state of limbo, has to resume in a meaningful way.”

IPU has long been committed to helping establish peace in the region with two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side.

The Organization’s Committee on Middle East Questions, which had to postpone a mission to the region due to begin this weekend, is committed to going to the region as soon as possible to continue its work to facilitate dialogue between the two sides.

“IPU will do what it can to support all political initiatives to restart dialogue and to bring peace to this region,” states Radi.

Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 162 affiliated parliaments and ten regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.